What do learners need teachers for anyway?

Authentic Materials and Colloquial Language in the Internet Age

Dr. Cynthia MartinAssociate Professor of Russian

University of Maryland

Key questionsO Who are your learners?O What are their goals? (Outcomes)

O Interpersonal Speaking and ListeningO Interpretive Listening O Interpretive ReadingO Presentational SpeakingO Presentational Writing

Why should we teach/learn colloquial language?

O Because it is authentic language!= by native speakers, for native speakers

O It is culture-rich

Authentic Sources on the Internet

O Virtually infinite, since they are constantly being produced

O Up-to-dateO Accessible 24/7 for most learnersO Many rich with colloquial language across topic

domains, for exampleO TV programs (both informational and

entertaining)O MoviesO Radio broadcastsO NewsO . . .

No lack of access…

but increased access doesn’t automatically translate to increased language acquisition

So why do learners need us?

O What do they need us to do that they cannot do for themselves?

O Consider how different our answer to this question would have been in the pre-Internet age.

They need us to… O Diagnose current strengths and weaknesses

(they don’t always know what they know and don’t know what they don’t know )

O Help them to define goals and set realistic expectations

O Be a guide in the selection of materials based on goals and interests

O Explain the linguistically inexplicable (including grammar)!

O Provide opportunities for application and practice

O … … … …

Challenges for us ‐ we need to…

O Stay current (easier said than done)O Individualize materials for individual learners

(teaching to the whole class)

O Constantly create and/or update instructional materials based on constantly changing input

O Help learners develop strategies to be effective/efficient language learners so they need us less and less, especially as their proficiency levels increase